Benny Gantz, the Israeli opposition leader in the country’s three-member military cabinet, said on Saturday that unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposes a new plan to return the hostages and end Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip by June 8, he will leave Israel. government.
Gantz’s departure will significantly increase already mounting pressure on Netanyahu, seven months after a Hamas attack devastated Israel and plunged it into a ruthless war in the Gaza Strip. By itself, it will not collapse the ruling coalition, which has 64 seats out of the 120-seat parliament.
Netanyahu immediately rejected this demand.
“The conditions set by Benny Gantz are washed-out words whose meaning is clear: the end of the war and the defeat of Israel, the abandonment of most of the hostages, the preservation of Hamas intact and the creation of a Palestinian state,” the prime minister said in a statement. statement.
The Israeli military is trying to destroy Hamas militants in the southern Gaza city of Rafah – an operation that has already forced half a million Palestinians to flee – and Netanyahu was angered that Gantz was threatening to disperse the cabinet at the height of the fighting.
It is an open secret that Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have barely spoken to Netanyahu in recent weeks over his handling of the war and the way he has alienated US President Joe Biden and his administration, which opposes the Rafah operation.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan is due to arrive in Israel on Sunday after a visit to Saudi Arabia. He worked to push for an agreement that would normalize relations between the two countries but would require that the Palestinians be given a path to statehood, a condition that Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.
Gantz responded to Netanyahu in a later statement, saying “there is no intention to create a Palestinian state and the Saudis are not demanding it.”
A U.S. official declined to comment on Israeli domestic politics but said the Biden administration has made it clear publicly that Israel’s military operation requires a political plan to achieve victory against Hamas.
Last Wednesday, Gallant issued his own statement accusing Netanyahu of failing to develop a so-called next-day action plan for Gaza, saying Israel was moving toward a reoccupation of the territory that he considered unacceptable. Soon after, Gantz offered his support to Gallant.
At his press conference on Saturday, Gantz went much further, putting forward a long list of demands. He referred to the initial successes of the War Cabinet, saying that it had now collapsed.
“For many months, the unity was really real and meaningful,” he said. “But lately something has gone wrong. No fundamental decisions were made. The leadership actions necessary to ensure victory were not taken. A small minority has captured the command bridge of an Israeli ship and is leading it towards the concrete wall.”
He added: “Personal and political considerations have begun to infiltrate the holy of holies—Israel’s security.”
The opposition’s complaint against Netanyahu is that he has allowed his far-right coalition partners to dictate policy simply so he can stay in power, ignoring calls from the US and Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia.
However, Netanyahu says that only after Hamas is defeated and Gazans no longer fear it can a plan for the future emerge.
Gantz listed numerous demands, including the defeat of Hamas, the demilitarization of Gaza and bringing in a coalition of Arabs, Palestinians, Americans and Europeans to manage civil affairs in the devastated coastal strip. He said Israelis who were evacuated from the north due to ongoing fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah should be returned to their homes by September. He said Netanyahu needed to develop relations with Saudi Arabia and develop a subtle plan to recruit religious people.
Otherwise, he said, “if you decide to follow the path of fanatics and lead the entire nation to the abyss, we will be forced to leave the government.” He said he would “turn to the people and create a government that will win the confidence of the people.”
How exactly he will be able to do this remains unclear. One way could be to convince five members of Netanyahu’s Likud party to oppose him, which could lead to the collapse of the government and the need for elections.
Gantz, 64, who is consistently ahead of Netanyahu as future prime minister, turned to the camera to address the nation’s leader personally:
“I have known you for many years as an Israeli leader and patriot: you know very well what needs to be done. Netanyahu would have done the right thing ten years ago. Are you able to do what is right and patriotic today?”
Netanyahu, 74, is the country’s longest-serving prime minister. Since he was indicted on bribery and fraud charges five years ago, centrist politicians have increasingly refused to work with him and he has turned to far-right parties to build his new government at the end of 2022.
The war began when Hamas swept into Israel on October 7 and killed 1,200 people and abducted another 250 to Gaza. The Israeli response, aimed at eradicating Hamas as a military and political organization, has led to the destruction of entire neighborhoods and the deaths of about 35,000 people, according to Hamas officials, who do not distinguish between militants and civilians. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.